Alex Kaliakmanis: Trying very hard not to comment on a program that our family decided to cut ties with.

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USAF said:
There is no committed transfer QB yet.
That's factual, and the statement the dad made that the previous poster was referring to.

Try to keep up.
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It's hard to keep up, because my allergies have kicked in. Must be all the dust from the crumbling foundations of this football program.
 

Daddy AK has always been outspoken on social media, generally talking favorably about the gophers. I remember when there was speculation last year about "Tanner vs. Athan," he was a class act and acknowledged, "Tanner is the guy, and should be."

The social media commentary on Athan has been brutal since the portal announcement. It's sad how much fans are willing to gang up on a kid who gave it his all.

While pops should keep his mouth closed, I get why he's defensive. His son is getting mocked, and a lot of bad s*** went on with our offense this year that was out of AK's control.

I think it's a good move for both parties to move on, but I believe Athan was hung out to dry a bit with the offensive philosophy and the WR talent.
 

Gold Rush said:
I think the most interesting thing to watch is where he ends up. Does he end up at a power 5 school or does he take it down a notch to a MAC school??
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Illinois state has an opening

From Zac to Athan is the streaming portion.
 


topos said:
The social media commentary on Athan has been brutal since the portal announcement. It's sad how much fans are willing to gang up on a kid who gave it his all.

While pops should keep his mouth closed, I get why he's defensive. His son is getting mocked, and a lot of bad s*** went on with our offense this year that was out of AK's control.
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This is big time power 5 football. It's a big money entertainment business. If you don't want criticism, you should probably play at a much lower level.
 





RememberMurray said:
It's hard to keep up, because my allergies have kicked in. Must be all the dust from the crumbling foundations of this football program.
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Just out of curiosity, what are the "solid foundations" and cornerstones that are evident to you from this past year that we should all hold firm to? The offensive play-calling, the in-game adjustments that were so evident in 2nd halves this year, the dynamic way the players rallied and fought for their coaches in every game, the standout Special Teams play we have displayed the last several years, or the talent identification and development by this staff? Just wondering were all the Pollyanna's see the progress and hope for the future. I would love to have it, but I don't see changes being made in the program that show progress.
 




topos said:
Daddy AK has always been outspoken on social media, generally talking favorably about the gophers. I remember when there was speculation last year about "Tanner vs. Athan," he was a class act and acknowledged, "Tanner is the guy, and should be."

The social media commentary on Athan has been brutal since the portal announcement. It's sad how much fans are willing to gang up on a kid who gave it his all.

While pops should keep his mouth closed, I get why he's defensive. His son is getting mocked, and a lot of bad s*** went on with our offense this year that was out of AK's control.

I think it's a good move for both parties to move on, but I believe Athan was hung out to dry a bit with the offensive philosophy and the WR talent.
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I largely agree with this. Athan and the whole family have had oars in the water from day one, and been big ambassadors of the program. So long as he doesn't take this twitter stuff any further, I'm not going to hold this one tweet against dad, Athan, or any of the family. It's best for everyone that Athan moves on, but it is sad to see it happen. By all accounts he gave everything he had to the program, and his contributions towards winning the Axe in Madison will not be forgotten.
 

Tlsbhansen said:
Just out of curiosity, what are the "solid foundations" and cornerstones that are evident to you from this past year that we should all hold firm to? The offensive play-calling, the in-game adjustments that were so evident in 2nd halves this year, the dynamic way the players rallied and fought for their coaches in every game, the standout Special Teams play we have displayed the last several years, or the talent identification and development by this staff? Just wondering were all the Pollyanna's see the progress and hope for the future. I would love to have it, but I don't see changes being made in the program that show progress.
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I'll bite.

This team was a couple passes from 7 wins, and maybe more wins with reasonable quality QB play. 7 vs 5 wins would have changed people's perspective drastically, let alone 8.

It's not the end times chicken little.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I'll bite.

This team was a couple passes from 7 wins, and maybe more wins with reasonable quality QB play. 7 vs 5 wins would have changed people's perspective drastically, let alone 8.

It's not the end times chicken little.
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I will add that I doubt Rossi all of a sudden forgot how to coach a defense. We do need to find some players though to fix those gaps.
 




RememberMurray said:
Play better. Coaches always support a player who produces when given his chance.
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And, a coach's job is to support their development so they are ready to be successful. Some programs and coaches do that well, others don't. The track record here is that they either don't recruit well, and/or they don't develop QBs well. Morgan had a good 2019, and then went backwards. AK didn't develop despite three years in the program and being highly touted/recruited by this staff. Other recruits over last 3-4 years weren't good enough or developed well enough to be better than what AK was this year. Other recruits haven't developed and stepped forward over seven years - that's plenty of time to see a trend, and the work of coaches.
 


A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I'll bite.

This team was a couple passes from 7 wins, and maybe more wins with reasonable quality QB play. 7 vs 5 wins would have changed people's perspective drastically, let alone 8.

It's not the end times chicken little.
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If we're playing that silly game, They were also a very fortunate review change and a miracle catch away from 3 W's.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Could it be AK expressed that he wasn't getting the support and development he felt he needs to get better from his coaches, and didn't get the response he was looking for?
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Absolutely. They're disappointed in the whole program.
 

I don’t think it needs to be any more complex than this:

- 2022 AK got steadily better culminating in an outstanding performance against Wisc and another solid performance for part of the bowl game.

QB coach and OC: Kirk Ciarrocca

- 2023 AK had ups and downs but largely regressed and had many notable instances of downright bad passes.

QB coach and OC: Greg Harbaugh



I’m not saying anything other than, they(the family) don’t feel like he’s the right QB/OC for Athan and if they both stayed here, and he was the starter again, there would be no reason not to expect the same thing to happen again.

They’re getting out while the getting is … well, as good as it may be.



And I would not be surprised if they end up right back with Kirk C.
 

Tanner Morgan had a similar regression. And then improvement when Kirk came back the second time.

I believe Kirk recruited both of them.
 


Social media has not made big time college football easier for anyone, for sure parents. A K senior should stay back and let junior make his way. That said I totally get it, and feel bad for the entire family, especially when keyboard experts (myself included) hit send when maybe it would be better to hit delete.

I can’t imagine watching my kid go from the “1st drafted qb for Minnesota“ in forever to “I’m bringing in a grad transfer for next year“. The blame from dad is probably going to coach before kid, in 99% of cases.

Hope all involved can all move on “nothing more to see here”.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I'll bite.

This team was a couple passes from 7 wins, and maybe more wins with reasonable quality QB play. 7 vs 5 wins would have changed people's perspective drastically, let alone 8.

It's not the end times chicken little.
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A couple of passes...all on the kid...right? So you are happy with the play calling and the way we were totally dominated in the 2nd halves of games? For me this year wasn't even all about the W's, it was about how this team played and was consistently out couched. We were much closer to a 3-win season than we were a 7 win season. If Nebraska hadn't crumbled and the Iowa kid hadn't kind of waved, we would all be celebrating PJ for his wonderful 3 win season. (But I forget, four years ago he caught lightning in a bottle)
 

MplsGopher said:
I don’t think it needs to be any more complex than this:

- 2022 AK got steadily better culminating in an outstanding performance against Wisc and another solid performance for part of the bowl game.

QB coach and OC: Kirk Ciarrocca

- 2023 AK had ups and downs but largely regressed and had many notable instances of downright bad passes.

QB coach and OC: Greg Harbaugh



I’m not saying anything other than, they(the family) don’t feel like he’s the right QB/OC for Athan and if they both stayed here, and he was the starter again, there would be no reason not to expect the same thing to happen again.

They’re getting out while the getting is … well, as good as it may be.



And I would not be surprised if they end up right back with Kirk C.
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People overstate how good his 2022 was. He came in at halftime against Nebraska and played vert well, then had 2 awful games against NW and Iowa (albeit in bad weather) and lit it up against Wisconsin. Then missed much of the bowl game. There wasn't really much of a sample to evaluate.
 

Tlsbhansen said:
A couple of passes...all on the kid...right? So you are happy with the play calling and the way we were totally dominated in the 2nd halves of games? For me this year wasn't even all about the W's, it was about how this team played and was consistently out couched. We were much closer to a 3-win season than we were a 7 win season. If Nebraska hadn't crumbled and the Iowa kid hadn't kind of waved, we would all be celebrating PJ for his wonderful 3 win season. (But I forget, four years ago he caught lightning in a bottle)
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We were much closer to beating NW and Illinois than we were to losing to IA and NE if we really want to go down this path. I won't even bother addressing your "kind of waved" comment, or your overlooking the other 2 9 win seasons.
 

Tlsbhansen said:
A couple of passes...all on the kid...right? So you are happy with the play calling and the way we were totally dominated in the 2nd halves of games? For me this year wasn't even all about the W's, it was about how this team played and was consistently out couched. We were much closer to a 3-win season than we were a 7 win season. If Nebraska hadn't crumbled and the Iowa kid hadn't kind of waved, we would all be celebrating PJ for his wonderful 3 win season. (But I forget, four years ago he caught lightning in a bottle)
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Go watch the Illinois game ... that play call to run the TE out in the face of obvious pressure was perfect. Short pass, couldn't make it.

Nobody can make that pass for the QB.

Oh I see, an Iowa fan ;)
 


PMWinSTP said:
Could it be AK expressed that he wasn't getting the support and development he felt he needs to get better from his coaches, and didn't get the response he was looking for?
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If the response was we’re planning to bring competition in and challenge you work hard every day to get better or you’re going to ride the pine rather than we’ll make sure you start no matter what and coddle you then maybe.
 

@Gophers1992 Iowa 22 he threw like five passes?? The one drive of the entire game where we actually threw the ball, was the only drive we scored a TD.

He was ice cold (literally and figuratively) on the last drive where we ran the ball 14 times and suddenly needed to pass on 3rd down. He made a less than perfect throw but the ball was catchable. Freak pop-up perfectly to their DB.
 

I could be wrong - but to me, this has a hint of controlling the message -

as in

"I wasn't fired. I quit before they could fire me."

If Dad can frame it as "my son left the program because they weren't helping him improve" -
that sounds a lot better than
"the program had to go out and get a QB from the portal because the current QB wasn't cutting it."

hey - I think most parents want their children to be seen in the best possible light. but when you add social media to the mix, things can go in unintended directions.
 

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